MORE PLEASE - BROTHS WITH BALLS
Baked Potato Brodo with Gnocchi, Pork and Cabbage Pastina and Shallot, Chickpea and Yoghurt Soup
Hello sweet More Please subscribers! Thanks to you all for being here, as always. As I have explained over on this months dinner party, I am off on my honeymoon and as such have some amazing guest authors this month taking over. However, as the nights draw in and things get colder and grimmer I did want to share 3 recipes that I hope will breathe some life into your repertoire for this 2024 soup season.
So today we are talking Broths with Balls, and I mean that in the literal and metaphorical sense.
I think it’s very easy to get stuck in a rut at this time of year, with comforting bowl food being a pretty much daily requirement. We fall into old habits and lean on old favourites and, listen, I am all for nostalgia-lead comfort cooking. I just really don’t want to run the risk of overdoing something that I really love and then going off it. So it’s always good practice to play and riff and experiment and that’s what I did with this weeks broths. All of said broths, by the way, do actually contain some kind of physical ball, as well as bold, ballsy flavours. See what I did there?
We start with Baked Potato Brodo with Gnocchi. One of my favourite comfort foods is a baked potato dripping in butter, piled high with parmesan and cracked black pepper. This dish is that in soup form and it is such a fun and absolutely delicious bowl of joy. As good as this is as a comforting weeknight dinner, it would also be incredible for a dinner party - it’s playful, irreverent and surprising in the best way.
Then for the meatball lovers out there, we have a Pork and Cabbage Pastina. This recipe takes inspiration from both the Italian-American classic “Italian Wedding Soup” and the original Napoletano “Minestra Maritata” upon which it is based. Like the former it contains meatballs and tiny pastina and like the latter it is made from a rich pork rib broth and contains heaps of tender braised cabbage. It’s heaven, a great bit of weekend cooking and feels like it would cure any sickness out there.
Finally we have a stunning Shallot, Chickpea and Yoghurt soup. I often crave the sour comfort of yoghurt in my cooking, and this delicate broth is finished with a big dollop stirred through. Tender chickpeas, buttery browned shallots, cumin and cardamom make this wondrously fragrant and easy soup that is soothing and satisfying. Plus a great excuse to make your own crispy shallots for the top.
BAKED POTATO BRODO WITH GNOCCHI
This recipe very nearly didn’t make it in today’s episode. I wanted to make baked potato broth, because baked potato skins are so flavourful and so wonderful as an aromatic, plus they often get wasted. But getting towards the end of the recipe I was doubting myself. My worry was that in trying to riff on something as simple as a baked potato I was creating something that was way too complicated. People can just bake a potato and eat it as they like, and that’s absolutely delicious. Why should they then turn it into a wacky soup? Well, I think the answer is exactly that - for the wackiness. I got a lot of joy from from turning something low key into something more exciting, and I think you will too. This would be so lovely to surprise dinner guests with, as much as it is a great little comfort dinner. Not to mention - minimal food waste! And, adding the butter to the gnocchi dough is a game changer - they are so, so light and tender.
Serves 4
4 baking potatoes